Invisibility
by WinterLake25
Summary: Matthew Williams was a regular kid, with regular friends and a relatively boring, peaceful life. This all lasts until he meets Julchen Beilschmidt, who turns his entire world upside when she reveals of the greats secrets of the age to him. Superhero fic. PruCan. RusAme. and perhaps more. Rated T for mouth and some situations.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Yes, I need to finish It Started with a Text. I should update The Citadel. I should give a conclusion to My Unwholesome Time in High school. I know. But I started this as a Hetalia fanfic, then changed it to an original story...But that didn't work out well. So I'm going to remake it into a fanfic.**

**This is a super short prologue, but I hope it is a good start.**

**The first chapter should be up very soon.**

**Julchen - fem!Prussia**

INVISIBILITY

_Prologue_

"Are you sure, Julchen? I would never be able to reverse the effects once the process starts."

The girl named Julchen nodded. The motion caused her pale, white ponytail to bounce up and down. Although her hands were sweating, the determined look in her pink-blue eyes showed the woman who had addressed her Julchen's steadfastness.

"I'm sure," she said slowly, almost in monotone, smoothing over non-existent wrinkles in her shirt.

"Alright then," the woman replied. "Let's begin."

The woman ushered Julchen into a clear tube made of glass, where she instructed Julchen to relax against the cushioned back of the tube. Once the girl had stopped tensing, the woman moved to close the opening of the tube; however, she stopped short of closing it to look hesitantly at the girl.

"I just want you to know," she murmured, "that I won't let the process be too painful. You might be my first testing subject, but I have the necessary measures for the safety of the process."

"I know."

"Then let's begin."

The woman shut the glass tube and moved to a switchboard as the girl watched. Cautiously, the woman pressed a few buttons. Once a piece of cloth slid over the tubing and the sounds of a machine whirring could be heard, the sighed, and switched on a recording device.

"Day 1 of Project H.S.T., Subject 1. The process has begun. The subject appears relatively calm and there seem to be no defects as the machines have started up. I pray that I have not made a mistake."

* * *

**A/N: I don't want to give the identity of the mysterious woman away yet. I know Julchen seems to be uncharacteristically calm and mature, but if you decided to be in her situation, I think you would be too. **

**I hope it won't be too OOC.**

**Feedback would be nice.=)**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yup, this is a pretty fast update. But that's because I have the first four chapters roughly written. So expect quick updates until I run out of material. =P Besides, I couldn't just leave you with a prologue! The most important characters aren't even in the prologue. =D**

**Characters:**

**Amelia Williams – fem!America**

**Tim Jansen – Netherlands**

**Mia Køhler – fem!Denmark**

**Emilia Väinämöinen – fem!Finland**

**Nora Bondevik – fem!Norway**

**Ms. Galante – fem!Latvia**

* * *

Chapter 1

Matthew Williams swore loudly as his alarm clock blared at him, telling him that it was time to get out of bed. With a groan, he slammed a fist onto the snooze button, effectively silencing the nuisance. Feeling satisfied, he slid on his ovular glasses and rolled over to take a peek at the actual time. The neon green digits blinked tauntingly back at him. When he saw the time on the bright display of his clock, he swore again, jumped out of bed, and rushed to his closet to throw on some clothes.

"Amelia!" he yelled, running to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Holy shit! I'm up, I'm up!"

Once he had finished brushing his teeth, Matthew noticed that he had forgotten to put on socks. He mentally kicked himself. Quickly, he bolted down the hallway to snatch some, nearly colliding into his half-sister, Amelia, who was still pulling her shirt and sweater as she rushed to the bathroom. They shoved at each other, but hastily proceeded towards their respective locations. Matthew grabbed the first socks that came to his hand and hopped down the hallway while pulling them on. Amelia emerged from the bathroom a few moments later, trailing her brother down the hallway and to the staircase.

Despite being half-siblings, the two looked surprisingly alike. Matthew was tall and thin, with blonde, wavy hair and serious violet eyes, and he usually wore horn-rimmed eyeglasses, due to his poor eyesight. He had a slight slouch in his posture from carrying a text-book laden backpack in high school. In contrast, Amelia always walked with a bounce in her step that made her wavy, light brown hair sway with her every move. Her chin-length hair framed her heart-shaped face, which housed a pair of bright cerulean eyes. She was almost always seen with a wide smile and a sweet, chubby face.

At the very moment though, the two Williams siblings were not concerned about how they looked, as they rushed to eat breakfast and to walk to school. Amelia was the first one out the door, walking speedily away from the house as her brother locked the door them and followed her. Once on the road, they relaxed and began to take the journey at a more leisurely pace. Amelia checked her phone and announced to her brother that they would still be early. They chuckled together, realizing that they might have been able to take the morning at a slower pace.

The two of them arrived at school at nearly the same time as they did every day. Amelia went to find her friends the moment their feet hit the pavement, waving a swift farewell to her brother. Matthew waved back with a small smile. He wandered around the school to the science hall, where his first class was, hoping that his friends would show up there before class.

"Sleep well, Bubbles?" shouted a girl at Matthew, waving enthusiastically.

He grinned in response. "Good morning, Mia."

"It's never a good morning if she's plotting," remarked another boy, punching Matthew lightly on the arm in greeting.

"You boys love me and you know," purred the girl with a large, hyper beam. She happily hooked both of her arms through theirs.

The girl, Mia, practically skipped as the three of them made their way down the hallway. She was shorter than her friends, seemingly dwarfed by the towering two boys. It was clear that she was not by any means tiny though; she was stocky, with thick, long, and somehow spiky blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes. The boys often commented that she resembled the Cheshire Cat when she plotted. Her contagious smile had her friends smiling as well as they chatted happily. She was vivacious and full of life at all times.

"Alright, Mia, what's up now? Tim, care to tell me?" asked Matthew.

"She says she saw some _cute_ girl," replied the other boy.

Tim's family had emigrated from the Netherlands, and he spoke fluent Dutch. He was taller than Matthew by quite a few inches, but he was much leaner, tanner, and more muscular to boot. Tim was on the track and field team, and it truly showed through his body. A few of the popular girls didn't mind the rumors about his use of shady substances, because he was like an exotic fruit that they craved to get their hands on. It was always hilarious for Matthew and Mia to see Tim pushing off the girls in the weeks before dances.

"Not just cute," corrected Mia. "SUPER cute."

"New girl?" asked Matthew, miffed by Mia's delight.

"No," answered Tim deadpanned. "It was Emilia Väinämöinen."

"Pffft, as if! Stupid smelly Berwald wouldn't let me near her cute ass anyways. Besides, Nora Bondevik is way hotter."

Matthew laughed whilst Tim rolled his eyes. Mia smirked in response.

Just then, the bell rang, and Tim untangled his arm from Mia's. After waving the duo good-bye, he headed to his math class, leaving Matthew and Mia standing in the science hall, still arm-in-arm. The two of them seemed to notice that they were in a rather compromising position; after sharing a conspiratorial grin, they separated themselves from each other in order to walk into their shared Biology class.

The classroom was decorated with the mounted heads of many long deceased creatures. The mounted heads swallowed up the whiteness of the walls, giving a classroom an eerily dark atmosphere. The two-ended desks that also served as laboratory countertops added to the gloomy air. Matthew and Mia shared one of these odd table-desks, so they sat down next to each other, like any other day, chatting amiably.

Suddenly, Mia yanked on Matthew's sleeves animatedly, pointing at the board.

"Presentation day, buddy! You ready?" she chirped, waving mini-poster in his face.

Matthew grimaced faintly. "This presentation is the reason why I was almost late to school. Couldn't you have finished your part of the slideshow earlier?"

"I couldn't help it! My favorite shows were on!"

"Alright," mumbled Matthew, pulling out the flash drive containing their presentation. "We'll have to find a work-around next time."

Mia began to take out the index cards containing their notes while the second bell rang. Students began to wander in late as their portly teacher left his computer in favor of making his presence known at his lectern. The two of them finished sorting out their props and headed to the front of the classroom, where the teacher's lectern was.

"Alright," boomed the teacher. The classroom quieted. "So we have two groups going today. Matthew and Mia are up first."

Mia nudged Matthew. They high-fived each other, and then made sure everything was perfect. Matthew pulled up the slideshow while Mia made sure their model was set up correctly. Once they were done, they gave each other a thumbs up and looked to their teacher.

"Whenever you're ready," the man replied, relaxing into his seat. The man really needed a diet and some exercise, as his large behind comically dwarfed the small chair he was sitting in. The small blue chair squeaked under the generously proportioned teacher's weight.

Mia nodded encouragement to Matthew. He cleared his throat. "Alright, so today, we will talk about-"

"Hey! Speak up! I can't hear you…Whoever you are!" someone in the back of the room yelled. Hums of agreement sounded throughout the room. Mia worked very hard to stifle her laughter, although she shook from the effort. Matthew's slim smile faltered a little. His eyelid twitched when similar comments began to ring throughout the large room.

"Matthew Williams, for the last time, please project your voice so that you may be heard. I have told you countless times to fix this issue. Now, please start again."

Matthew's face flushed in embarrassment when his classmates started to laugh at him outright. Mia had smothered her own giggles, but she couldn't help but aim Matthew an apologetic smile when her friend looked at her with raw panic in his eyes.

"Hey dudes, listen up! We're starting," she yelled. The students hushed their mocking and directed their attention to the duo once more.

"So anyways," began Matthew, in a slightly louder voice. "We are here to talk about the chemicals found in various photosynthesizing plants today." He pressed the space button on the keyboard so that Mia could start her part. The clack of the button alerted Mia of the slide change, and she quickly began to talk about her part of the research. When she was finished, Matthew summarized his findings.

Finally, the presentation was over, and the two of them returned to their seats. The other group had an equally dull presentation, and many students began to find themselves sneaking glances at the clock. Soon enough though, the class was over, and the class surged out of the room, racing for their next destinations with the desperation that only a lackluster class could give.

For Mia and Matthew, the departure from class was relieving, at the very least. It was easy to tell that the two teens were happy that the presentation was finally finished. They both wore visibly pleased expressions on their way to their next class. They wove their way through the bustle of the crowd until they finally reached their English classroom, where Tim was already waiting for them.

"What did we do in Trig…I mean, Pre-Calc today?" asked Mia, plopping down into the desk adjacent to Tim's. The tan boy shrugged, handing Mia his notes.

"Eh. New stuff. It isn't really hard though. We're still literally reviewing Algebra II."

Tristan sighed, getting into his own seat. He noticed that he glasses had been slipping down the bridge of his nose, so he pushed them up quickly. "I'm really not surprised."

"Not everyone's good at math like we are," pointed out Tim. Mia shot Tim a glare, but he simply ignored her. "I saw Lovina Vargas hyperventilating because she was so confused."

Mia chuckled menacingly. "Serves her right for dumping soda in my hair…Hey! That's her!"

"Who?"

Matthew peered around surreptitiously. Tim looked as equally confused.

"There!" hissed Mia, gesturing towards a girl who had just made her way into the classroom. "That's her. Wasn't I right?"

"Is she albino?" whispered back Matthew in wonder.

The girl that Mia had gestured at was slim, and moderately tall. Her skin was so pale it appeared to be starch white. Her hair was very much her same, although it had a bluish tint to it, and it was painfully straight. The girl appeared to be uncomfortable with the classroom, as her pink-blue eyes swept across the place fretfully. She did not budge from her place by the door even when the bell rang. By the time the teacher had made her way to the head of the classroom, the girl was still standing at the entranceway awkwardly.

"Good morn – Ah. Hello there. What is your name?"

"Julia Beilschmidt. But that name's too lame so I go by Julchen."

"That's, ah, interesting. May I ask about your unusual nickname?"

"I'm originally from Germany."

The classroom filled with murmurs as the students began to speculate about this new tidbit of information. Mia's bright blue eyes sparkled mischievously, causing Tim to snigger at her. Matthew looked on in interest at the whole scene, but he said nothing.

"Oh. You, uh, speak English very well."

"I was raised here." The new girl looked at the teacher with an edge of thinly veiled contempt. "Where may I sit, Ms. Galante?"

"Oh, uh, you can sit next to uh…"

The gaunt, tired teacher rubbed her temples, trying to remember the name of the one pupil whose name always seemed to elude her. The entire class murmured about the spectacle, wondering who the teacher was talking about in the first place. Distractedly, the woman motioned at Matthew, her eyebrows furrowing even more.

Matthew opened his mouth to remind the teacher of his identity, but Mia beat him by loudly proclaiming, "That's Matthew Williams!"

"Um, yes," the woman sighed, her hands flying to sooth her headache. "Please sit next to Matthew, Julchen."

Mia winked at Matthew as Julchen tentatively sat into the seat adjacent to him. Tim quirked an amused eyebrow at both Matthew and Mia as they began to have a silent staring contest. Matthew ended the staring contest by flicking a tiny piece of paper at Mia.

Julchen simply ignored them in favor of tidying her books and binders.

"Alright then. Please take out your literature books. Today, we are starting our poetry unit. Um, Julchen, please share with…"

"Matthew W-"

"Thank you, Mia, but please refrain from blurting out in my class again. Julchen, please share with Matthew for today."

Julchen nodded with a bored expression. Matthew pulled out his book and flipped to the page their teacher was indicating. Julchen scooted her desk closer to his so that she could see the book. Seeing her action, Matthew shyly slid the book closer to her.

"H-hi," he mumbled, beaming timidly.

"Hey," she replied with a thin, unfriendly smile.

The lesson started and they spoke no more. The moment English was over, the girl gathered up her things and ran for her next class. Matthew watched her retreating figure with slight disappointment.

"You hit it off, I see," said Mia, poking Matthew in the cheek as Matthew put his books away. Tim stood next to the two of them, watching in glee.

"Hmmmmm…"

"Are you listening to me?"

Matthew hefted his backpack and sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why I have so many classes with you, Mia."

"The school's evil," replied Tim with a grin. "They absolutely adore us. Remember that prank we pulled freshman year?"

"You mean the prank you and Mia pulled freshman year," snorted Matthew. "I had no part in it."

"Dang. I totally remember that one. We need to do something of equally epic proportions sometime in the future."

"And I got blamed for it too," retorted Matthew. Mia ruffled his head affectionately.

"Oh, stop being such a grump in the morning! You're the one who got to share a book with a cute girl."

Tim snorted when Matthew buried his face in his hands. Mia continued to beam deviously.

"Try not to stick a pencil into Miss Happy Burst of Sunshine while I'm in Physics," instructed Tim, branching off into the hallway that led to the Science Hall. "I don't want to have to arrange the funeral."

"No guarantees!" shouted Matthew in reply. Mia pouted at him, but he only smiled in response.

"You're just mad because I had to disturb your beauty sleep for the project," intoned Mia cheekily. "It's Friday, so you can go catch up on it."

Matthew shoved Mia gently, and she pushed him back. They laughed as they entered the math classroom.

It was just another ordinary day for Matthew Williams.

* * *

**A/N: So why isn't Mia on such good terms with the rest of the Nordics? Why is Julchen not running around proclaiming her awesomeness? Why is Tim so hot?**

**That's something that will be explained later. =D**

**Let me know if you have questions, hee hee.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's another update! Let me know what you think. =) I'll keep the rambling to a minimum, so here: READ IT! =D**

**Characters:**

**Sakura: fem!Japan**

* * *

Chapter 2

After school, Amelia made excuses to hang out with her friend Sakura Honda, so Matthew trudged home by himself. He barely noticed his surroundings as his feet moved of their own accord. Matthew had walked home from school too many times, so getting home was a thoughtless matter. He paused a little, however, when he noticed that he was not standing at the door of his house, but at the base of a tree. The tree was an old, gnarled oak which had been severely weathered throughout the years. The branches were bare as the knobby fingers of the wicked witches in fairytale, as it was still February and chilly. Nestled in the crook of the two largest branches was a haphazard little tree house. The bright blue paint was chipped, and the rope ladder leading to the little house was well-worn from use, but it was easy to tell that the creation had been well-loved in its time.

Matthew smiled.

Happily, he began to climb up the rope ladder to the tree house with meticulous care, as he was afraid that the well-worn rope would collapse under his weight. The twine had suffered through many years, and it was obvious that it needed to be replaced. It sighed and grunted under his weight, but it held up finely nevertheless.

When he reached the top of the ladder, he was greeted with something completely unexpected. Pure silence reigned as the two teenagers stared, unsure of what to do.

"Who are you?" he asked, shocked that someone would be in his private sanctuary.

"Who are you?" she replied incredulously, still looking intently at him.

"I'm Matthew. Matthew Williams," he mumbled uncomfortably, scratching the back of his head. He shifted the weight of his backpack a bit.

Her eyes widened in recognition. "You're in my English class! And I think you're in some of my other classes too…"

"Yeah. I guess."

"The Awesome Julchen Beilschmidt," she replied evenly, extending her hand. He warily took her hand, still wondering why she was in his tree house in the first place. Her grip was surprisingly firm, and her hands were pleasantly warm. He could feel from her handshake that she was very sure of herself. She seemed to be extremely comfortable in her own skin, while Matthew probably looked as if he wanted to hide in a corner and pretend that none of this encounter had ever happened.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked, climbing the final rungs of the ladder into the tree house. He stayed near the entrance, sitting half-in and half-out.

Julchen stayed settled in the farthest corner of the tree house, where her paleness seemed to make her glow faintly in the shadows. She shrugged, averting her eyes. With a sigh, she twirled a lock of her white hair around her finger. "I was just awesomely walking around." She paused, and then continued, "Anyways, what are you doing here? I thought this was supposed to be deserted."

"Uh…I, uh, kind of built this tree house. With my papa. A few summers ago."

Julchen stopped playing with her hair. She looked up to peer at Matthew's face, and it was easy to tell that she was fairly impressed. "Not unawesome," she replied flippantly.

He shrugged, wanting to look cool. Belatedly, he realized that he probably looked like a complete moron. "Yeah. I guess," he said lamely, not knowing what else to say.

"Why'd you build it?"

Matthew struggled with an answer. He didn't want to spill out his life story to someone who he had just met today. He picked at the frayed ends of his backpack straps, trying to delay the inevitable. Julchen still looked at him expectantly, waiting for a definite answer.

"It's nothing important," he finally muttered. He forced himself to stare at the ground beneath, so that he could avoid her inquisitive gaze. He could hear the rustling of her clothes as she moved closer to him.

"Oh," she replied, shrugging again. She scooted out of the darkness and into the light to sit next to him. Their legs dangled precariously from the edge of the entrance. Below, the ground was still covered in the light snowfall from a few nights ago. The shadow of the tree hovered over the tracks of their separate footprints, showing Matthew's footprints to be much larger than Julchen's. For someone with such a firm handshake, she had a frail, delicate frame.

"You seem like an awesome person," Julchen commented nonchalantly, fiddling with the end of her ponytail again. "Thanks for sharing your book with me."

"It was nothing, really."

They drifted into an awkward silence again. Matthew wanted to break the silence, but he was afraid that anything he said would sound idiotic and cause Julchen to leave. He didn't want Julchen to leave quite yet, as this was turning out to be a rather interesting encounter. The sentiment seemed to be shared; Julchen made no signs of leaving yet. In fact, she seemed intent on staying for a while.

Matthew was finally about to say something to ease the discomfort when his phone buzzed in his pocket, and a plinking noise was heard. Julchen raised an eyebrow at him as he pulled it out. He frowned slightly, but he did not reply to the text messages.

"I'm sorry," he said, adjusting his backpack as he prepared to leave. "My friend and my sister are both harassing me verbally and I need to go."

Julchen waved a hand at him with a small smirk on her lips. "Go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow. But it was nice seeing you here today. I got greeted by the totally unawesome asshole welcome committees at my last few schools, so it was awesome to meet awesome people this time."

"Um, you're welcome, I guess."

Julchen laughed. Matthew felt his cheeks grow warm.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," she replied.

Matthew descended from the tree house and landed in the powdery snow at the bottom of the ladder. Julchen followed him a few moments later. By the time Julchen was down on the ground as well, it had started snowing again. The snowflakes floated down languidly, like little bits of pure cotton candy. A few of them stuck to Matthew's glasses, so he hastily wiped them away.

He had turned around to head home and was already halfway up the block, but he turned back when he heard her call his name.

"Yeah?" he shouted back, confused she ran up to catch up with him. She was slightly out of breath, which surprised him. He wondered idly if she had asthma.

"I was wondering…Would you like to exchange phone numbers?"

Matthew stared blankly at her for a moment, before coming to his senses. Shyly, he slid his phone into her hand as he took hers. The exchange of numbers only took a moment, and soon, they parted ways. She waved at him before leaving, and he couldn't help but wave back.

Matthew's phone buzzed once again as he turned to walk home.

_Where are you_? Mia's text read. _I'm at your house. I'm starving. Parent fight. Mind if I stay over?_

_Mia brought movies_, his sister's text read. _Get your butt home so we can watch them. I'll even make popcorn. Where are you?_

_You hear about Mia?_ Tim's text read. _She's at your house. Can I come over too? Your parents are out of town right now, right?_

Matthew grimaced. There was only one explanation for why his sister, Mia, and Tim had all texted him and were, undoubtedly, all at the Williamses' house right now.

He was in for a serious interrogation.

And he was definitely not looking forward to it.

* * *

**A/N: Originaly, this and the next chapter were one chapter, but I decided to split them up. I know this is a rather short update, but it seemed like a better place to stop. =) **

**And just as a general warning, after around chapter 5 or so, I may not being doing weekly updates. I only have the story written out to that far, and so far, all I've been doing is just swapping names and editing. I promise I'll try to be more speedy, but no guarantees. And when NaNoWriMo gets here and decides to kick me in the butt during my busiest year of school…Well…**

**November updates may be nonexistent. ^.^"**

**I'll try my best to write chapters for November in advance so that by the time we get there, I'll just edit and update the chapters per weekend. **

**At any rate, hope you enjoyed!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here is chapter 3!**

**I think none of the characters need to be explained. **

**So without further ado, enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 3

By the time Matthew got home, the living room sofa and armchair set were covered by three teenagers fixated on a large, vividly colored TV screen. Amelia was sprawled on the armchair by herself as she munched happily on a bowl of popcorn. There were small bits of popcorn tangled in her chin-length wavy brown hair. Amelia had always been a messy eater. When Amelia had been a toddler, it had always been embarrassing when the family went out to eat. Eventually, they had finally managed to improve her table manners at the dinner table, but her snacking manners were still atrocious.

"Hey, bro," she greeted Matthew, stuffing another fistful of popcorn into her mouth. Mia and Tim both offered their own greetings as well, but they didn't tear their eyes away from the screen.

"Why are you all here?" Matthew set his backpack on the last step of the stairs and headed to the kitchen to make himself a snack. "And what are you watching? It looks terrible."

"We're watching it because it's terrible," replied Mia. "It's 'The Roomate.'"

Mia and Tim lounged on the sofa together. They had built up a bit of a pillow wall to split up their areas. The gesture was incredibly childish, but Matthew couldn't help but smile at the sight anyways. Mia and Tim had a habit of being exceedingly immature with each other; Matthew was usually their intermediary.

"Didn't that come out a while ago?" Matthew asked, rejoining them in the living room with some juice and a sandwich.

"Yeah, but – Hey! Why didn't you make me one?" whined Amelia. She threw a kernel of popcorn at Matthew. He ducked it deftly.

"What about me?"

"Matthew Williams, I'm the most important person in your life. Why didn't you make me a sandwich too! I mean, you can totally forget about Tim and Amelia, since they're obviously less important than me."

"Really, Mia?" snorted Tim, poking Mia in the face. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Matthew grinned and took a bite out of his sandwich. The others stared at his food. "Amelia, aren't you supposed to be at Sakura's?" he asked, avoiding the topic of food.

Amelia pouted at him. "Oh come on! You're good at making food. And Sakura had a dentist appointment so I left early."

"And what did your parents argue about this time?" Matthew continued, looking at Mia. The others were practically drooling at this point.

Mia sighed. "My mom found my dad's porn again. So she started yelling at him for 'being perverted,' and 'being such a terrible influence on my daughter.' So he started yelling at her about not being good in bed anymore and…"

"TMI," interjected Tim. "I don't need to hear about your dad's porn supply. Or what his fantasies are. We have a freshman here. Don't corrupt the freshman, you enthusiastic cretin."

"You think I want to know what my dad's fetishes are? That's why I left," she snorted, then turned to Matthew and Amelia. "And you don't mind if I crash on the couch here tonight, right? I might eat a lot of your food, but I brought my overnight bag this time."

"Of course you can stay!" Amelia exclaimed, before Matthew could say anything. "You can even bunk with me!"

"You do not want her to bunk with you!" yelled Tim, looking panicked. Amelia gaped at his outburst, and Matthew only shook his head. Quickly Tim caught himself, explaining, "She gets gropey at night."

"She hogs all the blankets AND all of the pillows," supplied Matthew. Mia flicked his ear.

"No I –"

"She also talks in her sleep. And she says the weirdest things."

"She smacked me in the face once."

"You guys suck!"

They all laughed while Mia attempted to smack them all with the pillows within her reach.

"And what's your reason for being here?" asked Matthew of Tim, finally.

"I just wanted to join the party," replied Tim with a shrug. "I couldn't let my best man be outnumbered by girls. Too much estrogen might turn you into a girl, since you're already such a piece of wallpaper. And I can stay over too, right? My aunt and her family are staying over for the weekend, and I don't want to bunk with the cousin that snores."

Matthew sighed. "Alright, you can bunk with me. It'd also be nice if I could have some help with the food."

"What about me?" pressed Amelia, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Uh…No."

"Why nooot?"

"You nearly blew up the kitchen when I was teaching you how to heat canned stew. You obviously inherited your cooking skills from mom."

"But I'm really, really, really good at baking pizza!"

Amelia was incapable of making anything but pizza. Matthew had to admit defeat on this point. Since their parents had been gone for the week, Matthew had been cooking dinner every day, as having Amelia in the kitchen always spelled disaster. Perhaps allowing Amelia to make the only edible food that she could make would lighten some of Matthew's burden in the area of food.

"Ok," he conceded. "You bake pizza tonight. We still have some frozen in the fridge."

"Yay!" she cheered, running off to the kitchen. Silently, Matthew prayed that nothing would blow up while she was there. Mia and Tim simply shot panicked looks at the kitchen until Amelia returned.

"By the way," Mia began, after a long moment of silence and watching the movie. "Where were you? You always go home right after school. I was surprised to find Amelia here instead of you."

"Yeah," echoed Tim. "You're always home. You're the king of staying home."

"I went for a walk," Matthew lied quickly.

He squirmed uncomfortably while the other three gazed at him critically. Matthew knew that the moment his best friends and his sister found out that he had actually talked to and had been noticed by a girl, they would be all over him with questions and mocking. It was also inevitable that Julchen would be interrogated by them as well.

"Really now?" replied Mia suspiciously. "Just a walk?"

"Just a walk," he affirmed.

The others let the subject rest, but Matthew knew that the topic was far from over.

Matthew's instincts were correct. After all of them had piled into their respective beds, Tim demanded to know the truth about Matthew's whereabouts that afternoon.

"I told you," Matthew insisted. "I just went on a walk."

Tim was stripping down for bed, but he stopped to give Matthew the "I want to believe you, but we both know that you're lying" look. Matthew rolled his eyes in frustration and scrunched his eyebrows to show Tim that he didn't want to talk about it. Tim cracked his knuckles challengingly. Matthew stretched his legs, intentionally pushing some pillows onto Tim's lap . Tim groaned. Matthew sighed.

"Domestic row, boys? Are we interrupting? Should I videotape the make-up and then leave?"

Mia and Amelia were peeking in from the doorway. Mia was grinning like a maniac as usual, but Amelia looked as red as a lobster. Matthew was confused to see Amelia's face burning bright red at first, but then he looked to Tim. He was dressed in nothing but his boxers. Matthew couldn't help but laugh as Amelia flushed to the roots of her hair.

"Tim, put on some pants! Amelia's not sure where to look," he managed through guffaws.

Tim looked down at himself and chortled. "Lovely. Mind leaving while I put something on?"

Amelia squeaked and ran back to her room, squealing not-so-subtly the whole way. Mia, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and flopped onto Matthew's bed shamelessly. Tim quickly threw on a pair of sleeping pants, and Matthew made room for her on the bed. Mia gave him a happy grin.

"Nah, I'm not particularly attracted to that hunk of muscle. I'll live. Amelia, on the other hand, might be having some pleasantly pleasant dreams tonight."

"I'm sure they involve you in lingerie," was Tim's response. He grabbed one of Matthew's very fluffy pillows and propped his head onto it.

"No seriously. Poor chick has a massive crush on you. And when I say massive, I mean MASSIVE."

"You sure it's not you?"

"Tim, you jerk! Matthew, back me up!"

"She's right."

"Of course she's right. She's practically Sherlock Holmes."

"You're hopeless," snorted Mia with a roll of her eyes. She poked Tim in the forehead, and ignoring his complaints afterwards, turned to Matthew. "But anyways, where were YOU REALLY this afternoon? We ALL know that you weren't really going on a walk. Cut to the crap and tell us."

"I went on a walk."

"No you didn't," replied the two demons at the same time.

Matthew rubbed his eyes tiredly. Tim had relinquished Matthew's pillow at this point, but it had been claimed by Mia. The duo stared intently at Matthew, waiting for him to answer. They knew that it would be a matter of time before he told them.

"I-I ran into someone," he stuttered, finally.

"I hope it wasn't directly. Actually, if it was a girl, then I hope that you did."

"Mia..."

"I know. Continue. We're all ears."

"Someone was in the tree house when I went there."

"No," drawled Tim, earning him a smack on the head from Mia.

Matthew threw a pillow at each of them. "Shut up and listen."

They both nodded, seeming surprised at Matthew's sudden break from meekness. He grinned at the look on their faces. "Anyways, I saw someone there. We chatted a little."

"We want details," demanded Mia.

"It was a girl."

"That was detailed," she snorted.

"Very," echoed Tim.

Matthew felt tempted lob another pillow at each of them.

"It was a girl from our grade."

"Hmmm. Was she cute?"

"That's all you think about, Mia. Who was it, specifically?"

"Julchen Beilschmidt…"

Mia squealed and ruffled Matthew's hair. "I am so proud of you! You talked to a cute girl!"

Matthew swatted her hand away in annoyance. Tim grinned sympathetically, but did nothing more than to clap him on the back. Mia ignored Matthew's attempts to get her away from his hair and continued to pat his head.

"Mia, please…" began Matthew.

Mia reluctantly released her hold on him, but she still couldn't help but give him one last devious smirk before slinking off to the sofa.

"She's never going to let me live this down, is she?" Matthew moaned, burying his face into a pillow.

"You bet she won't," said Tim. He patted Matthew's head in a manner extremely similar to how Mia had. "So get some sleep. And make her cut up the vegetables tomorrow."

Matthew nodded. He was just about to bury his head in a pillow and close his eyes when his phone buzzed. Tim peeked at the number. His eyebrows were raised as he handed the device to Matthew.

"Someone neglected to mention that phone numbers were traded."

Matthew ignored Tim in favor of reading the text that Julchen had sent him. He replied quickly, dodging Tim's attempts at reading the exchange.

"Did you send her some sweet dreams?" joked Tim languidly, finally giving up one reading the texts that Matthew seemed to be sending and receiving speedily.

"Of course," deadpanned Matthew. His phone buzzed again.

"You're not getting any sleep tonight, are you?" inquired Tim, settling himself on the left side of the bed, which Matthew had allotted to him. Matthew sent another text.

"Hmmmm…"

"If Mia asks why you're so sleepy, then I'll tell her you had wild fantasies of my body all night."

"Hmmmm…"

"You're not even listening are you?"

"No. I'm just choosing not to respond," smirked Matthew. Tim snickered gleefully (in a manly way, of course) and patted Matthew on the head condescendingly.

"Wallpaper's growing some guts."

"Guess so."

"Aw, don't turn into a wallpaper again, Matthew."

"Don't plan on it."

And with that, Tim went to sleep, leaving Matthew to his texting.

* * *

**A/N: So…What'd you think? =)**


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